Global Economy and Development at BROOKINGS From Aid to Global Development Cooperation The 2011 Brookings Blum Roundtable Policy Briefs SEPTEMBER 2011 CONTENTS Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................1 Reframing Development Cooperation ............................................................................................................3 Laurence Chandy The G-20’s Development Agenda ................................................................................................................13 Homi Kharas The Road to Busan: Pursuing a New Consensus on Development Cooperation ..........................................21 J. Brian Atwood Governance and the Arab World Transition: Refl ections, Empirics and Implications for the International Community ..................................................................................................................28 Daniel Kaufmann The Shape of U.S. Global Development Reforms .........................................................................................43 Noam Unger Preserving American Public Support for Foreign Aid ....................................................................................53 Steven Kull INTRODUCTION The context for aid is changing. Globalization has new form of partnership with the international com- spurred economic convergence, upending the 20th- munity, built upon the principles of country owner- century economic balance and creating a smaller ship and mutual accountability. world where both problems and solutions spill across national borders more readily. This has given rise to a From the Group of Twenty (G-20) meetings and legion of new development actors—including emerg- the upcoming Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid ing economies, nongovernmental organizations, Effectiveness in Korea to unfolding events in the private businesses and coordinating networks, who Middle East and North Africa, leadership from the have brought fresh energy and resources to the fi eld United States is crucial, placing pressure on the while rendering the prospect of genuine donor coor- Obama administration to deliver on its promise of far- dination ever more diffi cult. Global integration and reaching reforms to U.S. global development efforts. the competition for resources have raised the promi- And amidst this shifting global landscape remains nence of global public goods, whose equitable and the issue of how to effectively communicate the im- sustainable provision requires international collective portance of global development cooperation to both action. Meanwhile, poor countries are demanding a national and global publics, at a time when budget pressures are being felt across many of the world’s The Shape of U.S. Global Development Reforms: major economies. Noam Unger offers specifi c recommendations to the Obama administration on the fi rst anniversary The following policy briefs explore these issues in de- of its announced global development policy after tail, laying out the challenges and offering a range of highlighting those reforms that are well under specifi c recommendations on what needs to happen way, those that are not and those that are still and why. The briefs include: missing from the agenda at this critical moment. Preserving American Public Support for Foreign Reframing Development Cooperation: Laurence Aid: Steven Kull confronts the dire budget envi- Chandy exposes some of the myths that surround ronment for U.S. foreign aid by putting forward a development cooperation and endorses an effort set of communication proposals that draw upon to parse development activities according to a public opinion data and strategies that have been set of overarching objectives, which could then used to counter pressure for aid cuts in the past. guide a more modern and useful aid taxonomy, as well as a better division of labor. These policy briefs were commissioned for the eighth The G-20’s Development Agenda: Homi Kharas annual Brookings Blum Roundtable, held in Aspen, assesses the G-20’s standing as a body that can Colorado on August 3–5, 2011. The Roundtable con- effectively tackle the development agenda, argu- venes government offi cials, academics, development ing for concrete actions in the focus areas of ag- practitioners and leaders from businesses, founda- riculture and infrastructure and for an elevation tions and international organizations to consider new of the development work stream within the G-20 ways to alleviate global poverty through cross-sector process. collaboration. The Road to Busan: Pursuing a New Consensus on Development Cooperation: J. Brian Atwood reflects on the recent evaluation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness as he outlines essential goals for the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, which will take place in late November of 2011. Governance and the Arab World Transition: Refl ections, Empirics and Implications for the International Community: Daniel Kaufmann explores the importance of misgovernance, cor- ruption and political and economic capture by elites in Egypt, Tunisia and the broader region, and makes the case for better diagnostics and a redefi ned role for the international community in the Arab world. 2 FROM AID TO GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION REFRAMING DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION LAURENCE CHANDY FELLOW GLOBAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT BROOKINGS Executive Summary process can begin: First, break down the ephemeral notion of development cooperation into a cogent The world of development cooperation is riddled set of overarching objectives, upon which a new with myths. These myths affect how international taxonomy of development cooperation can be cast. development goals are defi ned, which policies are And second, initiate a discussion about the division adopted to achieve these goals, and the extent to of labor in development cooperation that focuses less which they are ultimately achieved. This policy brief on assigning responsibilities in a top-down fashion takes four myths and explores their origins and conse- and more on encouraging greater consideration of quences. It argues that the prevalence of these myths the comparative advantage of different fl ows, policies is proof that development cooperation needs to be and players. “reframed.” This means fostering a more robust, faith- ful and up-to-date account of the role of international engagement in the development process—one that What Is the Issue? will ultimately help the development community be The world of development cooperation is riddled more effective and justify its value to its various stake- with myths. These myths affect how international de- holders. It offers two recommendations for how this velopment goals are defi ned, which policies are ad- opted to achieve these goals, and the extent to which Stipulating such a goal provides an inspirational mes- they are ultimately achieved. sage and may help to prevent the diversion of re- sources for other causes, but it does not make the The origins of these myths vary: Some are simplifi ed mission any more straightforward. accounts of issues that are inherently complex; oth- ers are ideas that may have been true in the past but Development actors can still choose, for instance, be- no longer refl ect today’s realities or contemporary tween palliative measures (such as humanitarian and knowledge about development. In some cases, the food aid, or social safety nets), which are relatively myths are perpetuated by the development industry straightforward to deliver, and attempts to engender itself. What is clear, however, is that these myths are transformational change (capacity building, institu- increasingly unsustainable and counterproductive tional and economic development), which hold the given the scale of today’s development challenges promise of more lasting results. In a world of fi nite and the changes taking place within the international resources, policy options imply trade-offs—includ- development system. ing helping one group in preference to another—and there may be no such thing as the “right choice.” Myth 1: Development Cooperation Has a Clear, Narrow Purpose Furthermore, measuring international poverty has proven to be extremely problematic and subject to When U.S. Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart ut- interminable delays. The most recent offi cial estimate tered the phrase “I know it when I see it,” he might just of global poverty is for 2005—an age ago in the con- as well have been attempting to defi ne the goal of de- text of global development, given that between then velopment cooperation. For although “development” and now, the economies of the developing world is a universally understood term, it is multifarious and have grown collectively by 50 percent. Poverty mea- lacks clearly defi ned parameters. Development is at sures for India and China—two countries that offi - once about people and states, about opportunity and cially accounted for half the world’s extreme poor in outcomes, about productivity and sustainability, and 2005—face serious credibility issues that undermine about freedoms that empower and institutions that the accuracy of global poverty aggregates. impose rules. Such a breadth of issues does not lend itself to a straightforward prioritization and sequence The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide of interventions to be undertaken by external actors an alternative attempt to capture the essence of de- or a simple process